


i got a long-term plan (with short-term fixes)

by bellawritess



Category: 5 Seconds of Summer (Band)
Genre: :))), Bookstore Owner Luke Hemmings, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Friends to Lovers, Humor, IHOP, M/M, Mutual Pining, Psychology Professor Michael Clifford, Rating for Language, ahhhh this is silly, alex is an astronomy professor, i have no idea how to tag this, jack is also here but he's basically just vibing, shoutout meghna for that, suspension of disbelief is heavily encouraged
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-02
Packaged: 2021-03-13 22:54:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29161494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bellawritess/pseuds/bellawritess
Summary: Michael comes into the bookstore one day with the weirdest request he’s made of Luke in the almost-year they’ve known each other.“I need a hot boyfriend,” he announces. “You in?”Luke frowns very slowly. “To help you find a hot boyfriend?”“Tobemy hot boyfriend,” Michael says, like it’s obvious. “Temporarily.”
Relationships: Jack Barakat/Alex Gaskarth, Michael Clifford/Luke Hemmings
Comments: 14
Kudos: 50





	i got a long-term plan (with short-term fixes)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [redrattlers_em](https://archiveofourown.org/users/redrattlers_em/gifts).



> happy birthday to the wonderful [redrattlers em](http://redrattlers.tumblr.com/) !!! this is for you. you are TRULY a light in the world and i love knowing you and talking psych or sharing music or whatever else. you're just a treasure of a person and i love you and i hope this year is as kind to you as you are to everyone <3
> 
> in your honor, some silly fake dating muke for you !! psych prof michael is loosely based on my own very cool psych professor man i think everyone should just have a really good psych professor and the world would be a way better place. also jalex is here because i'm me :) i hope you can forgive me i borrowed astronomy prof alex from [meghna](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunsetmagnolia) (thank you meghna all of your ideas are so sexy i hope i did these boys justice). and while i'm at it, shoutout also to [paige](http://mukeaf.tumblr.com/) for the bookstore name AND to [sam](https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellingatbabylon) for the proofread of sorts and encouragement lol i love you so much i love all of you this fuckin ao3 would be DESOLATE without you all
> 
> title from story of another us by 5sos :)

Michael comes into the bookstore one day with the weirdest request he’s made of Luke in the almost-year they’ve known each other.

“I need a hot boyfriend,” he announces. “You in?”

Luke frowns very slowly. “To help you find a hot boyfriend?”

“To _be_ my hot boyfriend,” Michael says, like it’s obvious. “Temporarily.”

“To be your temporary hot boyfriend,” Luke repeats.

“Yes.”

“...Can you elaborate?”

Michael sighs. “I could, but you’ll laugh at me.”

“That is true,” Luke says. “I definitely intend to laugh at you.” He picks up the stack of books on the counter and makes his way between shelves, and Michael follows.

“Fine,” he says. “I put my students into groups today, and I overheard them talking about me.”

“Well, you’re their professor,” Luke says reasonably. “I chatted shit about my professors in uni all the time.”

“I’m not _finished,_ ” Michael says. “They were making bets on my love life. Whether or not I’m single. You remember Charlotte? I’ve told you about her.”

Luke rifles through his mental register of Michael’s students. “Is that the one you had last year as well?”

“Yes, her. She and this other kid Chris, who…” Michael pauses. It’s obvious he’s trying to find a nice way to say that Chris sucks. “Well, they don’t get along very well. And Chris was saying I’m _obviously_ single, since I’ve never mentioned a partner, and Charlotte kept insisting that just because I hadn’t mentioned anyone didn’t mean I wasn’t in a relationship, and they made a bet on it and everything. I think they got half the class involved before I managed to get their attention back onto long-term memory.”

Luke raises his eyebrows, shooting a look at Michael between shelving books. “And you said ‘sorry, Charlotte, you’re a great student, but unfortunately I am, in fact, single, and have been single for at _least_ the duration of knowing my cool friend Luke.’”

“You don’t understand,” Michael says despairingly. He leans against the shelf. “Okay, first of all, I hate Chris. I’ll just say it. He spends the entire class on his phone and when he deigns to turn in an assignment, it’s late. But more _importantly_ ,” he waves a finger in front of Luke’s face to grab his attention, and Luke crosses his arms and turns expectantly to Michael, “Charlotte’s really not having a good week. I don’t want to contribute to her bad vibes by making her pay fucking Chris over a dumb bet.”

Luke closes his eyes and counts to ten. He already knows he’s going to agree. Michael’s one of his best friends — a side effect of Michael’s almost-daily visits to the bookstore over the past year — and it’s for a noble cause. Kind of. Michael’s profound sense of empathy makes him a sucker, but it also makes him an excellent professor.

“Any particular reason the boyfriend has to be hot?” he hedges. “Because I’m really not the best man for that job.”

“Hard disagree,” Michael says. “First of all, you’re hot. Look in a mirror. And second of all, my boyfriend would be hot because I am a man with standards.”

Luke snorts.

“I wouldn’t ask you if I had literally anyone else to ask,” Michael says, “but all of my other friends work at the university. Please, Luke? It’s one day. Just come in, say hi to my students, something like that. We can get lunch!”

“Okay,” Luke yields, opening his eyes. Michael grins. “You’re a disaster of a person, Michael. Your nineteen-year-old students are manipulating you. Do you realize how ridiculous this is?”

“If I say yes, does that make it better?”

Luke snorts and pats Michael’s shoulder. “A little bit, yeah.”

* * *

Despite the fact that Luke considers Michael one of his closest friends, he’s never been to Michael’s university. It’s not like he’s forbidden or anything; they’ve just never had a reason to spend time there when Michael already spent a good amount of his days on campus and Luke, for his part, hoped never to step foot on a college campus again if at all possible.

There are certain things he will only do for Michael, apparently.

That really doesn’t come as a surprise, given that Luke has a normal-sized crush on Michael, but it does mean he’s heaving a sigh as he enters Rosewood Hall in search of room 107. According to Michael’s text, the class should let out at 12:50, and it’s now 12:45, which means Luke is right on time to make his appearance as Michael Clifford’s Boyfriend. In reality, they’re just getting lunch, but hopefully this favor will allow Charlotte to win her bet against Chris and Luke can go back to his silent crush and Michael can go back to being actually-single and everything can return to normal. 

Room 107 appears on Luke’s right, and he slows down to hover outside the window.

The door is in the back of the room, so none of the students can see Luke as he peers through the glass. Michael is standing at the front of the room before a slideshow presentation talking about something to do with memory. As he looks up, his eyes meet Luke’s, and Luke feels weirdly guilty even though he’s supposed to be here.

Michael’s face lights up. He holds up a finger to Luke, and Luke hangs back, feeling awkward and out of place. A moment later, Michael is at the door.

“Go around to the left,” he tells Luke, smiling gratefully at him like he’d expected Luke to bail or something. He points to another door closer to the front of the room. “I’m wrapping up, we’ll be done in three minutes.”

Luke nods, silently retreating to walk around to the other door. Three minutes pass in a second. Before Luke can really even prepare himself, he hears Michael saying, “That’s where we’ll stop for today. I’m sure you all have places to be, and I have a lunch date with my boyfriend here, so I’ll see you guys on Tuesday!”

That’s Luke’s cue. Steeling himself, he pushes through the door.

Several students have already left out the other door, but all remaining eyes are on him as Michael looks up from shutting down his laptop to greet him. “Luke!” he says happily, holding out an arm to wrap Luke in a half-hug. “Perfect timing.”

“This is when you told me your class ends,” Luke says, nervously quirking his lips. “I know how to read a text.”

Michael makes a face at him, and actually, for a moment, it’s easy to forget they’re supposed to be convincing several shrewd sophomores that they’re deeply in love. Like, he and Michael are friends, and boyfriends act like friends most of the time. Luke can just act like he usually acts. He’s pretty sure he usually acts a little bit in love with Michael anyway, so it’s not like a lot is changing.

“Charlotte,” Michael says, waving down a young woman in conversation with her friend. Charlotte’s head snaps up and she advances towards the both of them. “This is Luke. Luke, Charlotte.”

“I’ve heard a lot about you,” Luke says, figuring it’s best to be honest where he can.

Charlotte faux-gasps. “You gossip about me, Dr. Clifford?”

Which. Well. Huh. 

Reeling from that, Luke almost misses Michael’s airy response of, “I gossip about all of you. You’re not special.” Very much not true — Michael is constantly gushing about Charlotte’s passion for psychology, and Luke would be hard-pressed to name ten other students in this class — but Luke is still hearing _Dr. Clifford_ bounce around his brain.

It makes _sense_ that he would be Dr. Clifford. They don’t let just anyone teach psychology. Obviously, objectively, some part of Luke’s mind had known that Michael has a PhD, that Michael has a certain higher degree of qualification that allows him to teach this subject. But for some reason, he’d never made the connection between that _Dr. Clifford_.

“I hope Dr. Clifford isn’t trash-talking me all the time,” Charlotte is saying to Luke. 

Luke quickly zones back in and smiles at her. “I wish I could throw him under the bus like that,” he says ruefully, “but unfortunately it’s all good things.”

Charlotte rolls her eyes, obviously pleased. “Well, it’s nice to meet you anyway,” she says. She shakes Luke’s hand when he offers it. It’s a handshake Luke’s dad would be impressed by, which is saying something.

“I believe this should sort out whatever betting pool is going on about my love life,” Michael says, casting a knowing look at Charlotte, who doesn’t even bother to look embarrassed.

“I had faith!” she protests, grinning. “Chris was the one saying you must be single. I never doubted you for a second.”

Michael laughs. “Can always count on you to defend my honor.”

“Exactly,” Charlotte says. She smiles at Michael and then Luke in turn. “I should go, but I’ll see you on Tuesday, Dr. Clifford.” To Luke: “And, uh, I’ll…never see you, I guess?”

“Who’s to say, really,” Luke says. “If you ever end up at Hemmings’ Way, then you might.”

“Wait,” Michael says. He turns to Luke. “Like Hemingway? Like Ernest Hemingway? Your bookstore is a pun?”

“You only just got that? How long have you been coming there?”

“I just call it Luke’s bookstore in my head,” Michael protests.

“You work at a bookstore?” Charlotte says, brightening. “That’s so cool.”

“I actually own the bookstore,” Luke says. “With my brothers.”

“Even cooler,” Charlotte says, a genuine smile spreading over her face. “Maybe I will end up there. I just finished the book I was reading so I need something new anyway.”

Luke decides to like Charlotte a lot. “Well, feel free to stop by.” In a conspiratorial whisper, he adds, “Discount for boyfriends’ students, maybe,” which makes Charlotte laugh.

“Luke,” Michael admonishes. “Stop trying to rob my students of their money.”

“Bold of you to assume I have any money,” Charlotte says. She backs away, backpack over both shoulders, and waves. “Have a good weekend!”

“You too, Charlotte. Take it easy.”

They watch until she’s out of the classroom, the last student by a long shot, and then Michael sighs.

“Thank you,” he says to Luke. “You’re going to get into heaven for this.”

“I better,” Luke says. “You can repay me by buying lunch.”

“I was going to buy lunch anyway. That was already the plan for me repaying you for this.”

“Hey, Michael?” Someone pokes their head in through the further door of the classroom. “Oh — sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”

“No, it’s all good, Alex,” says Michael, waving as if to say _come in._ “I’m just packing up and then Luke and I are gonna get lunch.”

“Alex!” Luke says excitedly. Alex looks startled to be recognized so enthusiastically, but Luke has heard a great deal about Alex. “Oh, sorry. I just — Michael’s mentioned you a lot. Astronomy, right? I’m Luke.”

“No, I figured,” Alex says. “Luke as in bookstore guy Luke?”

“Bookstore guy?” Luke says to Michael. “Is that all I am to you?”

“Yes,” says Michael, returning to his mess of papers. “Luke the bookstore guy.”

“Oh, so not boyfriend?”

Michael briefly turns to Alex. “What? No.”

Alex coughs. “Your student seems to have a different idea.”

“Charlotte?”

“I don’t know her name,” Alex says. “But I asked if you were still in here and she said you were, with your boyfriend.” He nods at Luke. “I was expecting it to be you but I have to admit I’m confused now.”

“You were expecting it to be me?”

“Ah, yeah, Luke was pretending to be my boyfriend,” Michael jumps in quickly. “So that Charlotte could win a bet against Chris. But now he’s done.”

“I am no longer pretending,” Luke confirms.

Alex raises an eyebrow. “So now you’re actually his boyfriend?”

“No!” Luke blushes. “I meant now I’m back to just being his friend. Bookstore guy.”

Alex hums. “Mike? This was your idea?”

“Well, I couldn’t very well ask you, could I?” Michael doesn’t look at Alex. Instead he turns back to his papers, shuffling them around. The look on Alex’s face becomes suspiciously knowing.

“Well, I was going to ask Michael if he wants to grab lunch with me and Jack, but Luke, you’re more than welcome to join. We can double-date. Modified double-date.”

Luke is only tangentially aware of Jack, but he’s pretty sure it’s Alex’s boyfriend. From what he’s heard from Michael, Alex is a really cool guy, and so far this has proven to be true, so he says, “Sure, yeah. If you don’t mind.”

“Yeah, more the merrier,” Alex says, grinning. “There’s an IHOP just outside of campus, is that cool with you guys? Jack said he can meet me anywhere.”

Luke shrugs. “I’m cool with whatever.” He looks over at Michael, who’s finally sorted out his stuff and is watching this exchange in silence. “Mike?”

Michael squints at Alex, then at Luke. “Alright,” he finally says. “Yeah. I’m always down for IHOP.”

Alex beams. “Sick. I’ll tell Jack.”

* * *

IHOP is going great until Michael says, “Shit,” followed by, “Alex Gaskarth, I’m going to skin you alive,” followed by, “Alright, Luke, you feel up to the boyfriend role for a little longer?”

At which point Luke notices Charlotte entering the restaurant with two friends.

“Wait, why are we threatening Alex?” Jack wants to know. So far, Luke really likes Jack. He has a cool red streak in his hair and he plays guitar, which is basically all anyone needs to get into Luke’s good books.

“No reason,” Michael mutters. He turns to Luke, an imploring look on his face. “Please?”

As if Luke could ever possibly refuse him something like this. “Yeah, no problem.”

Michael smacks a kiss on his cheek, and Luke doesn’t know if it’s for real or for show. “Thank you, I owe you.”

“What’s happening!” Jack says loudly.

Alex peers around Jack to follow Michael's covert gaze. “Oh,” he says. “Are they your students?”

Michael’s voice drops to a whisper. “Luke pretended to be my boyfriend so we could help one of my students win a bet against one of my other, much worse students. And now the student who thinks we’re dating is going to sit at the table next to ours and I’m going to kill your boy, Jack.”

“How was I supposed to know they would be here!” Alex protests.

“You just did,” Michael says. Luke would like to know why Michael thinks that Alex would deliberately put them in a position to have to play pretend again, but he now does not seem like the time. “Don’t act innocent. I know your evil scheming mind.”

“That does sound like Alex,” Jack says. “Except I don’t understand the problem. You just said you pretended.”

“Yeah, we pretended to her,” Luke explains, also whispering just in case. “And now we’re pretending again, I guess.”

“Look, it’s not a big deal,” Michael says. “I just —” He sighs. “I don’t want her to know I lied to her. She’s honestly one of my best students. My best student. We have a really good relationship. Just, everyone act normal and pretend like Luke is my boyfriend, alright? I’ll tell Charlotte we broke up in a week or something, but just for right now.”

“I’m not a very good liar,” Alex says, “but somehow I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.”

“ _Alex._ ”

“Yes, fine, we will all pretend for you.”

“Thank you,” Michael huffs, just in time for Charlotte to spot the four of them. A grin stretches over her face and she waves. Michael snakes an arm around Luke’s waist and with his other hand waves back, then steals a bite of Luke’s waffle.

“Hey!” Luke says. “You have your own waffle right there.”

“Yours tastes different,” Michael insists.

“That’s because mine doesn’t have chocolate in it.”

“I don’t understand why you’d ever get waffles without chocolate if you have the option to get them with. Your mind bewilders me, Luke.”

“Thank you,” Luke says, and in the interest of playing up the whole boyfriend thing he scoots closer to Michael in the booth. “I try.”

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Charlotte and her two friends take their seats at the table just across from where Luke and Michael are. Brilliant.

“Anyway,” Jack says, because thank God for Jack, “Luke, you know if you tell Alex your star chart he can interpret it for you?”

“I swear to fucking God,” Alex says, burying his face in his hands. Michael and Jack both laugh.

“I thought that was astrology?” Luke says. He’s pretty sure that’s the joke here. Though he is also rather distracted by Michael’s hand, which has made itself at home on Luke’s waist. 

“Yes,” Alex says. “It is astrology. Jack just likes to be a little shit.”

“You’ve never even _tried_ it,” Jack says. “You have no idea. Astrology could be totally real. Maybe your star chart is completely accurate and you’re just too scared to find out that it’s a legitimate science.”

“If astrology were real, I would never have married you,” Alex says seriously, causing Luke’s second sharp double-take of the day. “You’re a Gemini.”

“And I’m an unreliable little bitch!” Jack prods Alex’s shoulder. “You’re making my case for me here.”

“You guys are married?” Luke interjects. Both of them look up at him, and in unison they lift their left hands. Twin wedding rings sparkle in the yellow lights of the restaurant.

“Two and a half years now,” Alex says. Effusive pride bleeds into his voice. “Pretty good ones.”

“For you, maybe,” Jack says, but he links his hand with Alex’s on the table and there’s nothing but fondness in his tone. “Joking. I like Alex. Even if he refuses to indulge my dreams of becoming a super-Gemini.”

“What do you do?” Luke asks Jack.

“Tarot reading,” Jack deadpans. Luke laughs, leaning into Michael. “No, I work for a mental health nonprofit.”

“Oh,” Luke says, surprised. It must show on his face.

“No one ever expects that from me,” Jack says with a wry grin. “Yeah, I’m the guy who trains the volunteer counselors.”

“Oh,” Luke says again. “That’s a really cool job.”

“It is,” Jack agrees. “Way cooler than astronomy professor, would you agree, Al?”

“I’m this close to divorcing you,” Alex tells him. They all laugh.

For the most part, lunch is smooth sailing. Michael retracts his arm at one point so he can eat more easily, but when he finishes, he immediately laces his fingers with Luke’s, setting them atop the table like a mirror of Jack and Alex’s. Nobody acknowledges it, so neither does Luke, and conversation jumps effortlessly between topics. Everything is going fine. In fact, everything is going pretty wonderfully.

And then, of course, suddenly it’s not anymore.

They’ve reached a lull when somebody approaches the table. It’s one of Charlotte’s friends, a kid with a big smile on his face. “Hi, sorry, I’m sorry to bother you guys, I just — I just wanted to tell you I think you guys are a really cute couple. We do. My friends and I, I mean.” They gesture towards Charlotte and the other girl, both of whom are standing in line at the front of the restaurant, waiting to pay for their meals. 

The four of them fall silent, each looking at someone else. Finally Michael speaks up. “Who, us?”

“Oh,” the kid says, looking from Luke and Michael to Alex and Jack. “Well, yeah, I meant you two. Dr. Clifford. Charlotte says you’re one of the best professors she’s ever had, but she didn’t want to be weird and tell you she thinks you guys are adorable, so she made me do it.”

“We encourage people thinking we’re adorable,” Luke assures them. “So thank you. What’s your name?”

“Henry.” The kid, Henry, looks very pleased at the positive response. “How long have you been together?”

Luke looks over at Michael, who looks back with a mildly panicked expression. Neither of them are quick thinkers, and they should probably have planned ahead in anticipation of the question, but to be _fair_ they really hadn’t expected to need to continue to ruse for long enough for anyone to ask.

He's contemplating answering with, _Oh, you know, who can really tell these days?_ when Alex, thankfully, jumps in.

“Six months, give or take,” he says, side-eyeing the both of them. “Michael here came into my office one day about a year ago, talking about this super-cute guy he’d met at the bookstore. I told him to ask him out, and Michael said no, that was insane, they hardly knew each other. So I suggested that he at least befriend the cute bookstore guy, which Michael did, and then proceeded to whine to me about how cute bookstore guy was basically every single day for the next almost five months.”

“Alex,” Michael says tightly. “That’s —”

“I’d never met cute bookstore guy,” Alex continues, cutting him off, “but from what Michael had told me they obviously had a special kind of relationship. And lo and behold,” he waves at Michael and Luke with a flourish, “I was right! Michael finally worked up the nerve to ask out cute bookstore guy, who turned out to be Luke, and the rest, as they say, is history.”

Michael is more tense than Luke has ever seen him in almost a year of knowing him. His grip on Luke’s hand feels more like a vice. “Right,” he says, shooting a strained smile to Henry. Luke also does this, because it seems like the right thing to do. “One for the books, as they say.”

“That’s so cute,” Henry gushes. “You guys are so cute. Both of you. All of you. Sorry for bothering you, I just…” They turn pink. “I don’t know. You guys are cute.”

Luke suspects something else at play — there’s a small rainbow pin on Henry’s sweatshirt — but he just smiles more warmly and says, “No bother at all. Though I think your friends are going to leave without you.” 

Henry turns sharply on their heel. “Fuck,” they say, and then make a face. “Oops. Sorry. Didn’t say that. Nice to meet you guys! Have a good, um, rest of your lunch! Bye!”

And they scurry back to Charlotte and the other girl, giggling as they rejoin the group.

The table is quiet for a long moment. Jack says, “Hey, Alex, are you not gonna finish those?”

“Go for it,” Alex says, sliding his plate of fries towards Jack, like Jack hasn’t been nicking them throughout the entire meal. Michael abruptly pulls his hand back into his lap, and Luke, blinking, does the same. Alex gives the pair of them a critical look, then says, “Jack and I should probably go.”

“We should all probably go,” Michael says tersely. “Thanks for covering for us, Alex.”

Alex smiles like he knows a really interesting secret. “Anytime, Mike.”

Luke gets the feeling he’s missing a big piece of this puzzle. Furthermore, he’s pretty sure he’s just about solved it.

* * *

Navigating Rosewood Hall should be less intimidating the second time, but to Luke it is significantly more.

Still, he finds room 107 without difficulty, this time heading straight for the side door and peeking through the glass until all the students have gone. Michael is packing up his stuff. Just like he did yesterday, Luke steels himself before entering.

The sound of the door catches Michael’s attention, and he turns around.

“Oh, hey,” he says, obviously surprised. “Back so soon? You miss school?"

Luke laughs. “Yeah. Right. Never.”

“I was gonna come by later today,” Michael says. “Did you leave something…?”

“No, no,” Luke says nervously. “I just, there’s something I wanted to ask you about.” 

_Somewhere where I can make a quick escape if necessary._

Michael slowly stops putting away his notes. “Yeah, what’s up?”

Yeah, what _is_ up? What is Luke doing? What does he expect Michael is going to say? This is a really terrible idea. On the scoreboard for Worst Ideas, this one makes Luke’s top ten. 

(Or does it? _Does it?_ )

“So…yesterday, at IHOP, Alex said that he’s not a very good liar,” Luke says, scuffing his shoe on the carpet. Michael inhales sharply, but Luke is determined not to give up now that he’s started. “And then when that kid Henry asked about how we got together, it, um, didn’t sound like the kind of story someone could just make up on the spot. Up until the ending, I mean.” He inhales deeply, fixes his gaze on Michael’s. “Was it?”

Michael sighs. “What do you think, Luke?” He sits on the table, shoulders slumped. “But look, the whole pretend-to-be-my-boyfriend thing wasn’t a ploy or anything. It was honestly just a favor. I didn’t have ulterior motives. I’d never use you like that. I was really, really trying not to make it weird, and if Alex hadn’t completely betrayed me then it _wouldn’t_ be weird, so I’m hoping it can continue to be not-weird.” Resignedly, he adds, “Though I understand if it is.”

“So that was all true?” Luke says. “Cute bookstore guy and all?”

Michael groans and scrubs a hand over his face. “Are you asking if I called you cute bookstore guy to Alex?”

“Only because I called you cute psych professor to my friend Ashton,” Luke says. “In fact, I still do. Whenever I call you Michael, he says, ‘Oh, is that cute psych professor?’”

Michael blinks. “What?”

“I liked being your temporary boyfriend,” Luke admits. “Does that make it weird?”

“Hold on,” Michael says, hands falling to his lap. He stares in disbelief at Luke. “What?”

“What part of this is confusing you?”

“The —” Michael shakes his head. “I don’t know. None of it. All of it. You think I’m cute?”

“Uh, have you seen yourself?” 

“But —” Michael seems to be short-circuiting. Luke waits patiently for him to catch up. “You weren’t even my real boyfriend. We didn’t do any real boyfriend things.”

“I know that,” Luke says, heart hammering in his chest. “But I’d like to. If you would.”

“Of fucking course I would,” Michael says, sliding off the table, still staring like he’s expecting Luke to vanish. “Did you not hear what Alex said? About how I basically haven’t stopped talking about how much I like you since I met you?”

“I just.” Luke swallows, an uncertain smile slowly curving his lips. “Thought he was exaggerating.”

“He was not exaggerating,” Michael says. “That is literally how much I think about you.”

“Oh,” Luke says. Fireworks explode inside his chest. They’re like butterflies, but a lot more deliberate, more confident, laden with potential, rife with history. “Well, uh, same. So…will you be my boyfriend? Or can I be yours?”

“Yes?” Michael says, then shakes his head. “I mean, yes, definitive yes, I’m absolutely positive.”

He breaks into a grin and Luke does too, and for a moment they just stand there looking at each other like two people frozen in a photograph. 

Luke beams. “This went about as well as I could have possibly hoped.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Michael says suddenly. “Does this mean I actually have to _thank_ Alex?”

Luke laughs. “He did you a favor. Actually he did both of us a favor. Obviously he could tell that I liked you. I’m surprised you couldn’t.”

“You ever heard of something called ‘wishful thinking’?” Michael says dryly. “Alright, well, _boyfriend,_ why don’t you do me another favor and push all the chairs in? No one ever bothers on Fridays.”

It’s a menial task and Luke is happy to do it, but he would probably be happy to do basically anything just to hear Michael calling him _boyfriend_ one more time. 

(As it turns out, once Michael starts, he never really stops.)

**Author's Note:**

> thank you for reading this silly nonsense :) happy birthday redrattlers em i love you very very much !!! to anyone else, i'm on tumblr [@clumsyclifford](http://clumsyclifford.tumblr.com/) and i am always down to chat about whatever. also i'm sorry for posting three fics in three days i'm done now i'm done okay bye


End file.
